Winston Churchill famously said of Russian foreign policy that it was "...a riddle, wrapped in a mystery, inside an enigma." What people leave out is what followed. Churchill offered an answer: "... perhaps there is a key. That key is Russian national interest." And so it is. Like most crises, the crisis Russia is experiencing is over-determined, in the sense there are several causes. The actions in Ukraine, and particularly the annexation of Crimea, and the continued destabilization of East Ukraine spurred sanctions from the US and Europe. The sanctions, especially the ban on access to the short-term funding ... (full story)